Despite the termination charges going down and still falling,prices are on the up.

As pointed out in this this Post Office Homephone thread by Ian G http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1392870637

EE Homephone are another supplier at it they  increased their charges to them this week.

Now 12p a minute at evening and weekends  if not included in bundle.Previosly E.7.6p a minute.W7.2p a minute. Connection charge now 15p. Still 12.7p daytime.

http://e-gain.s3.amazonaws.com/external/content/Ts%20and%20Cs/Changes%20to%20Call%20Rates%20Feb-14.pdf

My suspicion is that these increases are in preparation for landline-to-mobile inclusive packages (or inclusive add-ons which amount to the same thing).

When inclusive landline packages first came in they were quite expensive and the "out of package" call rates weren't that high. Over time the balance has gradually tipped: There has been a gradual increase in price of out of package calls, turning them into "penalty" charges. The price of inclusive packages has also dropped.

In the case of calls to mobiles, these have always been high and they are now getting higher. This means, I feel, that there won't be a drawn out balance-tipping as we had for geographic calls.

Thus, at the moment we are effectively paying penalty rates to call mobiles, with no option to avoid the penalty.

The big providers will string it out for as long as they can, until one makes the move to introduce inclusive calls to mobiles. Because they have all got themselves in position with high penalty rates, they will all be ready to follow suit at the drop of a hat.

Marketing and spin are the name of the game: the "bad" work has been done (in the form of price increases), so when the inclusive packages finally do see the light of day, it will only be "good" news (lower prices).

A good point David.

Talk Talk are already offering a £5 a month boost .1000 UK mobile minutes a month from landline.

and Orange Homephone include a 1000 UK mobile minutes in their £5 a a month anytime bundle amongst other things.

bigjohn wrote on Feb 24^th, 2014 at 3:32am:

Talk Talk are already offering a £5 a month boost .1000 UK mobile minutes a month from landline. and Orange Homephone include a 1000 UK mobile minutes in their £5 a a month anytime bundle amongst other things.

These will probably be discontinued when the "unlimited" inclusive packages come in — they are effectively a pre-cursor. I imagine that durations are rounded up to the next whole minute, but even then 1,000 minutes, which is over 16 hours, is ample for most people.

I wonder what has happened to BT.s plan to offer inclusive mobile calls.

""Ofcom has made some worthwhile reductions in mobile termination rates, which will benefit customers in the near future," BT Retail consumer chief John Petter said in the statement. "Our focus is now on developing an all-inclusive package that will enable people to call mobiles from their landlines at no extra cost, with no fear of 'bill shock'. This will be incredibly good news for BT's customers."

http://www.zdnet.com/bt-to-make-landline-to-mobile-calls-cheaper-soon-4010022132/

bigjohn wrote on Feb 24^th, 2014 at 3:48am:

I wonder what has happened to BT.s plan to offer inclusive mobile calls.

Good point. BT was quick to trumpet the Terminate the Rate campaign.

bigjohn, correct me if I am wrong, but BT offers no inclusive calls to mobiles, even bundles of finite minutes such as those of TalkTalk and Orange that you've highlighted (£5 for 1,000 minutes).

Is it just a cynic's viewpoint that the continued wait for inclusive mobile calls, and the end of genuine free caller display and free BT1571, is purely uncoincidental considering that BT Sport, which is free, has now come on the scene?

Dave wrote on Feb 24^th, 2014 at 3:59am:

Is it just a cynic's viewpoint that the continued wait for inclusive mobile calls, and the end of genuine free caller display and free BT1571, is purely uncoincidental considering that BT Sport, which is free, has now come on the scene?

Don't forget to mention the increase in line rental as well.

It would be financial suicide for BT to not try and scrape back the cash it has lost to paying for the sports rights and by offering BT sport for free it looks like, as you have noticed, they are slowly getting the cash from other areas of their business.  Effectively they are now cross-subsidising.

I expect that some of the other landline CPs that currently don't charge extra for caller display, to start charging and use the excuse like aligning our prices with BT  :D

Virgin Media,s rates are particularly high nearly 16p connection and 31p+ a minute

All UK mobile calls can  be reduced to 10p a minute if you buy a £2 monthly bolt on ,or for a stonking £15 a month you can get inclusive 01/02/03 ,0845/0870, and UK Mobile Calls.

Inclusive Virgin Mobile Calls are included in other call packages.